THE CAMPAIGN against the Scout and Knowl Moor windfarms is beginning to heat up after hundreds of protesters packed a public meeting at St Paul's Church Hall, Norden, on Tuesday night.

It was standing room only as people from all over Rochdale and beyond were urged to write individual letters of opposition to windfarms to Rochdale and Rossendale Councils, which are being consulted over the plans.

Organisers of the meeting, Ann Metcalfe and her daughters Emma and Sarah, were amazed with the huge turn out.

The meeting was initially addressed by Alan Johnson, countryside officer for the North East Lancashire Ramblers Association and then it was an open forum.

Mr Johnson informed the meeting about the scale of operations at the windfarms. He said each of the 26 turbines planned would be two thirds the height of Blackpool Tower and to place them in their foundations would need 540 tons of concrete and 32 tons of steel. Track would have to be built to support two cranes for the construction, one weighing 450 tons and the other 120 tons. To carry material to the site would require 129 low loaders and 329 heavy goods vehicles.

"We are talking about a massive industrial development which United Utilities and Peel Holdings plan to impose on the fragile countryside," said Mr Johnson.

"The greatest impact will be on those who use the moor for recreation, including walkers, runners and horse riders. The turbines will become the focus of attention. The perception of the area will change from a countryside landscape to industrial."

Mr Johnson said when the windfarm was built at Cliviger near Burnley, an environmental health officer with Burnley Council recorded that noise levels were 20 decibels higher than before the building of the windfarm.

In other parts of the country where windfarms had been built in Wales, Cornwall and Cumbria residents' council tax had been reduced because the value of their homes had dropped.

But he said what really concerned him was the threat to the ecology of the moorland site. He was worried about erosion to the peat, which could be washed into the reservoirs, polluting the water supply creating a 'peat soup'. The moors were a 'considerable habitat' for migrating birds.

Mr Johnson said if there was enough opposition to the windfarms during the consultancy period, then the issue could be forced to a public inquiry.

"We must bring the utmost pressure on both councils and we must get an overwhelming number of objections from the public."

Mrs Metcalfe said she was not against windfarms as such as long as they were placed in the correct place. "I will say no to them in my backyard," she said. I take pleasure and pride in the area where I live."

A man describing himself as a civil engineer said to put the size of the windfarms in context, the seven College Bank flats in Rochdale had a total ground footprint of 2,800sq metres, while the windfarm total would have a massive impact of 130,700 sq metres. It was the size of a large nuclear power station.

The meeting was told that a website had been set up for the protesters at www.scoutmoor.com